I’m headed down to Mark Shapiro’s press conference, and I’ll share his take on the haul in a little bit. My initial reaction, contrary to my blog posting yesterday, is that it’s an impressive one. Especially after watching Masterson in the postseason last year.

This is a very, very emotional goodbye for Victor. He sat in front of his locker, with his son, Victor Jose, in his lap and sobbed after getting the news. He spoke to reporters with black sunglasses hiding his red eyes.

“This is my house,” he said. “I’m leaving my house.”

UPDATE: First off, Wyatt Toregas will get his first call to the Majors to take Martinez’s roster spot and serve as the third catcher, with Kelly Shoppach and Chris Gimenez in the mix.

The Indians will have to make a roster move tomorrow to get Masterson on the big league club. Initially, he’ll be in the bullpen, but the Indians will stretch him out to transition to the rotation. No exact timetable on that transition, but Masterson will be in the rotation this season.

And suddenly, Mark Shapiro is talking much more optimistically about 2010. Masterson plays a big factor in that, as he’s a legit rotation option going forward. As is, of course, Carlos Carrasco, who was acquired in the Cliff Lee trade.

On top of that, Shapiro implied that because of the $16 million saved on the 2010 options for Lee and Martinez that he should have some — probably not $16 million, but some — money to spend this offseason.

Personally, I’m happy to hear this.
Once they decided we weren’t going to compete until 2011, I felt really bad for Victor. I’m past feeling bad for the team or the fans — I felt bad for what had been one of the best guys we’ve ever had on this team, not just in talent, but in personality.
Sure, I have problems with the Red Sox. But I’m glad to see Victor getting a chance to help a team in contention.
And I’m actually good with what we got back, but that’s secondary to me at the moment.
Good luck, Vic. Thanks for the last few years.

Does Mark Shapiro realize that it is no more about what you could possibly be getting and actually about making fans happy. Cleveland has the most loyal fans in all America, and what do the Indians do, they throw it in our faces. We weren’t happy with this season, but what did management really do this season to make them better? Sign Woods? Resign Shoppach instead of trading him? Honestly the only decision that isn’t being done is firing the one responsible for all these mistakes. Shapiro. Some people haven’t forgiven the Indians for losing Thome and Vizquel, I won’t forgive them for losing Victor.

Supposedly, Nick Hagadone has great stuff. Gammons compared him to David Price. The big downside is that he’s only single A, which means he probably won’t help us in 2011.
THIS Price (Bryan) doesn’t look that great on paper, but, again, supposedly he’s got lots of talent and, yet again, he’s only single A, so there’s time.

Hagadone is a 6’5″, 230 pound lefty who can throw in the upper-90s. He had Tommy John surgery 13 months ago, so he’s coming back slowly, starting games, but only going 2-3 innings at a time. He was a reliever, Boston converted him, and he got hurt, so take that for what it’s worth. I like him a lot, but it comes down to his complete recovery.

To me this is a very good trade, it seems like they got better players for Martinez than Lee, which makes the Lee trade all the more confusing. Other than the Lee trade, I actually wish they had made a lot of these moves before the sseason started. They are still left with 5 catchers who are at or should be at AAA or higher, I don’t get this at all, and I don’t get Peralta being on the team. They could trade Peralta for nothing at this point, just free up some money and free up 3b to give Marte a shot. I actually think this team can contend for the divison next year, depending on Westbrook and Carmona, and if Wedge and Carl Willis are still around …they have C Perez and the other high level relief prospect from the Derosa trade, if Wood is still around I’d expect him to bounce back … the Indians are one good reliever and reliable Wood from being in 1st place right now, even with the offensive and starting pitching problems … I would like to see Shapiro explain what they are going to do with Shoppach and 4 high level prospects at C, Torregas is DHing at Columbus, they already have Gimenez and Shoppach on the team, and now Santana is blocked from AAA by 2 players? Total nonsense, since they didn’t deal anyone but Victor. They should at least swap Marson and/or Torregas and/or Shoppach for prospects who play other positions

Now it’s official. Larry Dolan is the most despised person in Cleveland since Art Modell. There’s only one scenario that can turn this around. Turn the keys to the entire organization over to Orel Hershiser, and get this mess straightened out!

I am now 66, because of my Dad keeping the memorys fresh, I remember Lou Boudreax, Larry Doby, Al Rosen, Bobby Avila,Al Smith and Bobby Feller, Mike Garcia, Bob Lemon, and Eary Wynn. My childhood Indians were Vic Powers, Herb Score, Rocky, Woody Held – and then the 30 years. I cannot wait ANOTHER 30 years. Get rid of Shapiro, he is nowhere as smart as he thinks.

I wish Victor the Best. This is tough for everyone, Esp reading how upset he is about being traded. He is a true leader and now has a real chance of winning in the very near future. It’s too bad that things didn’t turn out better for the Tribe and Victor, He will be missed.http://clevelandbaseball.mlblogs.com/

This situation is NOT Shaprio’s fault. It’s not Wedge’s fault. It’s Larry and Paul Dolan’s fault. Dick Jacobs proved that in order to make money in baseball, you have to spend money. The Dolan’s have it backwards – they say they’ll spend money when the seats start filling. But how are the seats going to get filled if they don’t get some good talent? I think Shapiro, despite a few mistakes over the years, is a great GM. He’s working with what the Dolans give him, which is next to nothing, and he’s doing the best he can. I don’t think anybody else could do better, considering the circumstances.

I generally dislike the “cheap” tag when it comes to dealings in baseball, as regular fans don’t have the information on the finances that the organization does. But in this case, I’ll get on board, specifically for the reason that foraker mentions: you’re not going to make money on a team that no one goes to see.
I hope they keep Shoppach and Gimenez as catchers and call up LaPorta to replace Victor.

As I tried to post a minute ago (so I apologize if it posts twice), I normally don’t like to complain about money when it comes to the Tribe, simply because I don’t know all the details of the team’s finance. But I agree with Foraker: they’re not going to make money on a team that no one wants to come see.

No Drabeck for Lee and no Buchholtz for Victor. We got an injured arm and a 5 inning major league guy? Really? This front office sucks and so does this message board, see the big picture. We will never sign a big free agent, we will never get back to where we thought we could be because we traded everyone and didnt get either of those top guys back.

Victor didnt want to leave, he wanted to stay he loves it here and look what we do to him…we send him away What a joke, what an absolute joke.

No Drabeck for Lee and no Buchholtz for Victor. We got an injured arm and a 5 inning major league guy? Really? This front office sucks and so does this message board, see the big picture. We will never sign a big free agent, we will never get back to where we thought we could be because we traded everyone and didnt get either of those top guys back.

Victor didnt want to leave, he wanted to stay he loves it here and look what we do to him…we send him away What a joke, what an absolute joke.

AC- can we get some feedback on what Shapiro had to say about Vic leaving? I like the haul, but it killed me to hear Victor crying. This organization owes a lot to him. I hat big players leaving for Boston/NY/LA, so to trade away a player who LOVED playing here, LOVED the city and team… it just hurts. Please, console me.

Pan to the ending of Dances with Wolves with the Indian on the cliff….

Sad sad sad sad day for the Tribe. VMart…you were my favorite Indian and a CLASS act all the way through. You deserve the very best and will be welcomed back every time you visit. We hope you come back for good one day.

I can’t even get angry about this because there’s no anger left. I’ve never been a fan of blaming the owners for not spending money, but I know that the window of opportunity for this club should have lasted a longer than it did, and if we had paid CC his due… can you imagine him with Cliff last year? I know it’s not all one person’s fault, but a bigger budget to keep our good players would have helped this team immensely.

So starts Rebuild 2.0.

Victor Martinez, thank you so much for the energy and the heart and the soul. It’s been fun to watch you play baseball in a Cleveland uniform.

“All we got to do is go out there and kick some bottom.” -Victor Martinez, pennant race 2007. “Are we still an Indian?” -Victor Martinez Jr., to his dad, July 31 2009

This is a very sad day for Tribe fans. Victor was the best, yes he had a bit of a slump, but in my opinion you don’t get rid of the heart of the team, a guy who plays every day to get kids with unknown future. We had a known quantity in Victor and a damn good one at that. I am very sad, and it reminds me of the Cleveland way, get rid of the good ones. I was a life long Tiger fan until I met and married my hubby and became a Tribe fan. Maybe I should go back to my roots. Get rid of Shipiro. He’s ruined the team. Farewell, Victor, you were my favorite and a great guy, the fans will miss you.

Victor you will be missed and I understand you being sad by having to leave your home, but it’s just part of growing up. You see it’s where all good Indians go when they grow up, it’s called the big leagues. You’ve earned it and will do just fine. Best wishes.

Watching Chris Antonetti on All Bets Are Off made me want to reach through the screen and punch him in the teeth. He made some sarcastic comment about the front office not being too popular with fans right now and blew it off by citing the Bartolo Colon trade. This just in Moron, that was 7 years ago and only one of those players is still on your team…. and he’s hittin” .227! Victor Martinez was the heart of this team and you just traded him away for an average reliever and a guy that just had his arm rebuilt. You, Shapiro and Wedgie keep patting each other on the back while every sports writer/analyst in America talk about the great deals that the Phillies and Red Sox made. You’re a joke!

I heard they called up Wyatt Toregas today to take Vic’s place. WTF! Where in the hell is MATT LAPORTA? I am so upset that SHA-PYRO gave away Lee for 4 stiffs it brings back my childhood days when the indians of the 70s would trade an Eckersly for 4 stiffs who never panned out.
The only way I can even consider to watch this putrid team is to hope to see a potential future star who is still in Columbus.
Thanks Shapyro for keeping the 6 million plus we are spending on Peralta(who of course can hit now that the season is over and there is no pressure). I would give him away for a bag of balls along with WOOD and HAFNER who the genius Shapiro signed so we can no longer sign our ace pitcher and all star catcher. That is all I can say for now, I can go on and on but what is the point. BRING UP LAPORTA!!

I’m surprised so many more people are expressing their frustration after this trade than the Lee trade. Sure, it’s sad to see Victor go, but at some point you need to move on. It’s not all Shapiro’s fault that the Indians are where they are, they’ve made many a questionable move but have fielded what’s on paper a decent team. The reason the Indians don’t have a world series ring has nothing to do with Dolan or Shapiro, it’s that the players choked against Boston. And they choked 2 years before when all they had to do to make the playoffs was win 2 games against a bad Tampa team. I like Martinez as a player, but when your team leader bats .150 for over a month for no reason other than mental stress, you should probably look for new team leaders. But bottom line, I think the team is better off without Martinez and with the pitchers they obtained in the trade, they do not need a part time catcher/1st baseman, they needd pitching. The Lee trade on the other hand … so the Indians can now afford to be “creative” and sign a player for a good value, what, like paying about 8 million for a Cy Young winner? I don’t think you’re getting a better deal than that

This is how I feel. It reads like a story because I’m a sentimentalist at heart. Venting is a good thing though.

It’s a tearful end of historic proportions and summer has officially ended here in Cleveland. Our baseball season still has 59 games remaining but it doesn’t seem to matter to a fanbase that is oozing hatred towards their organizational leaders, most particularly its owner. No, it is not September 21st nor is is anywhere close. Unfortunately the start of autumn cannot get here quick enough. But for the “Boys of Summer” of championships past, the glitter and glamor has come crashing down in the last 55 weeks which reached an apex around 4pm today.

You’re told as a child to root for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. But when a player embodies that name on the front through blood, sweat and tears, his name unquestionably becomes synonymous with it.

I must confess, I under-appreciated Victor Martinez. Because of how he carried himself as a baseball player, his loyalty and outspoken appreciation for this organization I considered him to be the ONLY player possibly willing to pass up greener pastures for a home here in Cleveland. It appeared the feeling was mutual.

The reality of this era is intertwined with non-salary cap contracts seeing our best talent sign elsewhere, PEDs, labor unions with more influence than they should possess, poor drafts (will Brad Snyder please stand up), even worse signings (ahem, is there a Mr. Dellucci in the crowd?), and an owner that overpaid for the team from the onset and has been operating from a deficit since day one ended all loyalty and appreciation its fans had blindly given them with nothing but one post season appearance in return.

Congratulations Mr. Dolan. While your puppet Mark Shapiro said that fans live in the moment but the organization does not have that luxury, I think you have forgotten one important business aspect: consumers buy things in the moment. No more tickets. No more hats. No more jerseys, jackets, or cats. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Fan I Am.

Oh wait, those are two a different stories that might be more entertaining than the Indians winter press tour circa 2009.

tribetime –Totally retarded idiotic ***** equal to insect mentality exactly — so let me get this straight, after downing a case of Schlitz you purchased with the last few dollars from your bi-weekly disability check, watching Fox News in your apartment which smells of dog urine and vomit, you logged onto the “internets” to attempt to make fun of people commenting on a baseball site by reading and then commenting on the baseball site? On a site in which you commented previously that the Indians needed to sign Kenny Lofton to solve their problems, this year, and were apparently serious when you said it? Hmm, come to think of it, is tribetime actually …. Mark Shapiro? That might explain the Cliff Lee trade

This should all come as no suprise; Rocky’s curse is alive and well. The only thing this team will ever do is break our hearts. Mark Shapiro has made a good move yet. This guy is the worst Gm in MLB. He and Wedge should be splitting the night shift at 7-eleven. We have to be the biggest group of suckers in all of sports. No one trades 2 Cy Youngs back to back. No one!

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